Cracked screen epidemic explodes

Survey indicates around 7.5 million consumers in the UK have damaged devices

O2 reckons that 7.5 million people in the UK have a device with a cracked phone screen at any one time and half of all smartphone owners have damaged their screen at least once. The findings came from research of 1,729 UK adults surveyed last month.

Extending the survey results to the UK population indicates around 2.6 million people have cracked their phone straight after buying it.

Women are more likely to have dropped their phone (54 per cent) compared to men (47 per cent). The unluckiest age group are 16-24 year olds (29 per cent) compared to 45-54 year olds (11 per cent).

The East of England is the region with the safest hands with only 39 cent of those surveyed reporting a cracked screen, whereas nearly two thirds of Londoners (61 cent) have suffered a smash, meaning that they can’t get the most out of their devices. Around one in 10 gadgets are broken by children (12 per cent) costing the UK £1.4 billion, followed by five broken by ‘clumsy friends’.

More than 20 per cent of people who had cracked their screen admitted to living with a broken screen for more than six months with only one per cent ensuring it is sent away for repair within one day of breaking it. Cracked screens caused injuries to 14 per cent of the owners.